Spirited peep inside the kitchen

Alan Davies, a regular on Stephen Fry’s QI, takes on a dispirited chef in new comedy Whites.

BRITISH actor Matt King is waiting to shoot a scene for series two of Spirited in Sydney’s Stamford Hotel, which sits eerily preserved awaiting demolition. Bizarrely, given King plays the ghost of a dead rock star, we’re sitting in the room next to the one in which Michael Hutchence died – the only room in the hotel that remains locked.

But we’re not here to talk about Spirited. King is also a writer, responsible for the six-part British series Whites, which begins next week on ABC1. But we’re not here to talk about Spirited. King is also a writer, responsible for the six-part British series Whites, which begins next week on ABC1. The gentle, character-driven comedy, based on King’s experience in a professional kitchen, stars Alan Davies as Roland White, a dispirited chef treading water at an exclusive country restaurant.

”Whites is totally based on Hanbury Manor, where I worked,” King says. ”It’s a facsimile. Roland is a composite of several chefs I know who can’t be bothered any more. They’ve kind of missed the boat, missed out on Michelin stars and cruise along.”

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